How to get my girls back laying in the nesting boxes

[curtisbirds]

Well what happened was last week I went out to the coop and I found the eggs in the middle of the coop floor. When I checked out the nesting boxes they were over run by ants. I collected the eggs and cleaned the coop out entirely. I got rid of the ants, still can't figure out why they came other than maybe from the thunderstorm the night before might have flooded their nest and they just ended up there. But anyways, so now my girls want to lay their eggs under a bush in the yard, and I can't figure out how to get them back laying in their nesting boxes. First I will tell you what I have tried and maybe someone can give me other ideas.

1. I moved the nesting boxes to other side of coop.
2. I kept the chickens in their coop for five days after the infestation was removed.
3. I left fake eggs in the nesting boxes to prompt them to lay in them.
4. I tried changing their nesting material from straw to pine chips.

While I tried all of this, they would only lay in the middle of the dirty floor (on top of poop or not), so finally I let them out only for them to change their laying times, from early morning in their boxes to mid afternoon and under the bush, which would be fine, other than we have snow and icy winters here. If anyone has any other ideas on how to get them to lay back in their boxes within reason please let me know thank you.

 

[azygous]

I think what you need is time and patience for your hens to readjust after the stress of the ant infestation, and the subsequent disruption in their familiar nest location and nest material.

All of those things constitute change and chickens don't do change. It's in their contract.

Continue placing the fake eggs where you want them to lay eggs, and if you see any hen trying to lay in places other than the nest boxes, gently lift her up and place her in the appropriate nest. If there's an egg, real or fake, already in the nest, she's more likely to remain.

In time, your hens will adjust and they'll lay in the nest boxes again. Just try to help them get through this adjustment period as best you can.

 

[Wxguru]

Just be patient...our first eggs in March were in the middle of the run. Then they were in the coop corners and few in the nesting boxes. Then 4 of 6 laid in the boxes. Now we are back to corners of the coop and one under some pallets outside...lol.
As long as you can find them, I wouldn't worry...they will lay them where they are most comfortable.

 

[aart]

I think what you need is time and patience for your hens to readjust after the stress of the ant infestation, and the subsequent disruption in their familiar nest location and nest material.

All of those things constitute change and chickens don't do change. It's in their contract.

Continue placing the fake eggs where you want them to lay eggs, and if you see any hen trying to lay in places other than the nest boxes, gently lift her up and place her in the appropriate nest. If there's an egg, real or fake, already in the nest, she's more likely to remain.

In time, your hens will adjust and they'll lay in the nest boxes again. Just try to help them get through this adjustment period as best you can.

 

[curtisbirds]

Thank you, the girls just don't trust the nesting boxes now, if you try to put them on one they run out, so I did stop doing that. It seemed to stress them so I just keep an eye for when they lay and I go collect right away. My husband and I discussed removing those nesting boxes, we use milk crates filled with pine shavings, so we thought of building wood ones. One of the reasons is because they seem to avoid any milk crate around the property since the infestation. My husband teased we would dig up the bush and put it in a planter in the coop, lol, the coop is big enough.

One thing we discovered yesterday afternoon was we had a copperhead behind the coop, my husband killed it with a shovel. It is possible that it could have been adding to the stress, because how we found it was my husband noticed that they kids wouldn't go far in the coop. So he walked in and couldn't see anything, so he walked around with a flashlight looking under the coop, he thought maybe a stray cat (there are tons around the area) but I told him it was unlikely since the boys (our three fixed male cats) guard the chickens non stop. Then Loki our black cat started hissing and growling towards the back so my husband slowly walked back there and there it was curled up watching the cat and my husband luckily got him from behind before being noticed. They were allot better about going in their coop after that, and didn't keep coming out.

We had noticed they were being a little weird about going in at night and were more interested in getting out then usual, but I thought it was because of the ants but now i'm rethinking the whole ant thing (but it probably didn't help). They were back to acting normal about the coop this morning just slowly walking out of the coop and pen as usual. But still laying under bush.

Now Big Mama my alpha hen, well she's the alpha chicken under me period. Yes the roos listen to her. She can be very stubborn, so I figure I'll probably just be collecting eggs under the bush till it does get cold and no longer are free ranging. I let them free range from sun up to sun down everyday. And at sun down the cats lead them into the coop, I just go to close the pen gate when they are all in. I did notice the cats seemed to be peeing all around the coop this morning, and our bassett hound/dachsund mix who is twelve also peed on a bush growing next to the coop and he usually doesn't go near the chickens or their coop at all.

A friend of ours suggested moth balls thrown under the coop, now my coop is made out of a ten foot by ten foot shed that's only about four inches off the ground and we have hardware clothe around the bottom,the chickens can't get under there. So I'm wondering if mothballs are safe around chickens, because of the smell.

 

[aart]

Moth balls won't keep snakes away...myth.....and they are nasty.

Both the ants in the nest and the snake int he coop were the problem, with time the chickens should go back to using the nests.....
........or you could lock them in the coop for a few days, at least until mid afternoon, to get them back in the habit of using the nests.
Might be too hot there for that tho.

But don't keep changing the nests, that freaks them out.....that change stipulation in the contract don't you know

 

[roseyred]

The cats are smart. Pee keeps unwanted predators away. I suggest you and your hubby pee in bottles and spray around the coop. I had some stray cat issues and did that. One was so stubborn I actialy soaked it in pee one night. Needless to say it's never come back

 

[roseyred]

Also I sprinkle DE under my bedding in nest boxes to control bugs. It dosnt make t a nice place for them to live as the DE dries them out

 

[curtisbirds]

We are leaving the crates because big mama was checking them out last night.

Different people have different opinions over the effectiveness of moth balls, I grew up in snake heaven and I grew up with the nasty smell in the house and we never worried above snakes but our "neighbors" (1/4 mile away) had snakes in there yard and house allot. I just wanted to know if they were toxic to chickens due to their sensitive lungs, can't remember if we had mothballs in barns, toooo many years lol.

Thank you yes my cats are very intelligent, because I will never try to pretend my boys don't hunt birds effectively, but they guard those chickens like I don't know what. I have never in all my years seen cats actually protect a chicken, yeah they'll hang out with them because of the potential rodent population, but I've seen my boys go after a stray dog that wandered up the driveway and got too close. I watched them stalk this dog but kept their distance till it noticed the chickens then they moved in. Miracle, my exlarge boy stayed between the dog and the chickens. And Loki and Thor flanked it and ran it back down the drive. And the cats don't just hang out in the coop, they herd the chickens, if someone comes up the driveway and the chickens are close they will move the chickens by just walking around them. If they get too close to the road for Loki (within 50 feet) he walks them back further in the yard. They never show aggression towards the chickens it's just like this silent conversation between the two groups. The cats sleep with the chickens, Big Mama, my dominant hen sleeps on top of my siamese.

I figure I'll just wait it out, they always lay under the same bush, in the same make shift nest. I put some straw under the bush yesterday and they laid in the straw so that will help keep the eggs cleaner. In the winter, I coop them up so they will more likely go back to their boxes then. Thanks for the advise.

 

[azygous]

Loved your tale about the herding, guard cats!